The One and the Many: English-Canadian Short Story Cycles

W.J. Keith is a retired professor of English at the University of Toronto and author A Sense of Style: Studies in the Art of Fiction in English-Speaking Canada.

It has been recognized for some time that cycles of short stories
sharing common literary qualities are a noticeable feature of
English-Canadian literature, or what Professor Lynch calls “a
distinctly Canadian genre.” In this book he has chosen seven examples
illustrating a historical and geographical span, and embracing a
diversity of forms and styles. These are Duncan Campbell Scott’s In
the Village of Viger, J.G. Sime’s Sister Woman, Frederick Philip
Grove’s Over Prairie Trails, Emily Carr’s Klee Wyck, George
Elliott’s The Kissing Man, Alice Munro’s Who Do You Think You Are?,
and (briefly) Thomas King’s Medicine River.

Lynch is a sensible, middle-of-the-road critic, with no axe to grind
(except, perhaps, the cause of the short-story collection!), who
discusses each text on its own merits. He treads warily between critical
schools and approaches, and is particularly welcome in quietly but
firmly challenging some of the extremes of feminist commentary. In all
his chapters I found original insights relating to the individual
cycles, but must report that I was not persuaded that the works
discussed bore much resemblance to each other. As Lynch acknowledges,
some cycles are “unified primarily by place,” some by
“character,” some by “consistent thematic concern,” and some by
“a consistent style or tone.” It is difficult to see how a stable
genre can emerge from such diversity.

In short, then, students of the individual texts will find the book
useful, and Lynch is to be congratulated for writing helpfully and at
length on some lesser-known cycles (notably Sime’s Sister Woman). At
the same time, I find his arguments for connections between his chosen
texts ingenious rather than convincing.